Topsail Island Beach Vacation

We're getting back into the swing of things after our family beach vacay at Topsail Island last week.

My mom rented this ocean-front townhouse -- it was the perfect size for the five of us (Mom, Dad, me, Lee & Erin) and the ocean views were amazing. We've never stayed in an actual "ocean front" house before, and I think we might be forever spoiled now.

To say we took it easy would be an understatement. In fact, I couldn't be bothered to even take out my camera the first half of the week. Every day we went out on the beach and swam, read, and caught some rays.

Of course, Lee and Dad did some fishing.

And we also did LOTS of cooking, and even more eating.

One fun thing about Topsail is the turtles. They are SERIOUS about their turtles around there. The beach is dotted with nests and we had fun researching and learning about them (from the sea turtle hospital website).

One night Lee and I were walking on the beach and happened upon a group of people standing around a nest. They said the turtles had hatched (the sea turtle hospital lady said you could tell by the way the sand looked) and they were waiting for them to come out. Thinking that we were in for a long night of standing around waiting for the turtles, I went back to try and find mom and dad.

By the time I got almost back to the nest, Lee called to say they had already hatched and the show was over.

WHAT?? I thought once it started they would trickle out one by one? No. Apparently all 100 of the little turtles made a beeline for the ocean in under 2 minutes.

Lee said it was one of the coolest things he's ever seen. I'm still bitter that I missed it, but at least he got to see it.

This is the nest that hatched (taken on the following day). See the little path they created for the turtles so they wouldn't go astray?

On Wednesday, Katie and Ann drove from Emerald Isle to come and hang with us for the day. We did some kite-flying and of course had to get an italian ice from the Bada Bing italian ice cart that was wheeled up and down the beach each day (it was always Dad's favorite part of the day).

We had more visitors on Thursday and Friday, including this little tater tot:

There is nothing like seeing the beach from the eyes of a one-year-old.

And of course I had to try out my new lens by taking 8 million pictures of my adorable subject.

Britt wanted to get some 15-month pictures of Brevyn so we did a little photo shoot on the beach.

All in all it was a fabulous, relaxing trip with some great quality time with the fam.

Too bad it's back to the real world (and diet!) for now. It was good while it lasted.

Office Project Numero Quatro: Pinboard Frames

Read about my office here, and parts 1, 2 and 3 of the makeover here, here and here.

Next on my list for the office was something to go on the wall above my worktable. I knew I wanted some sort of pinboard solution so I could tack up mementos, pictures and inspirations like craft and decor ideas, paint chips, fabric swatches, etc. So I hopped on the picture-frame-turned-pinboard bandwagon.

I started by scouting the Raleigh flea market for large frames that I could spray paint. I think I probably paid around $20 for all four.

(Isn't the black and gold one nice?!)

After spray painting them white, I cut pieces of foam core to fit each frame and then covered the foam core with a thin layer of bulletin board material (using spray mount to adhere the bulletin board to the foam core).

I thought they looked pretty good at this point, but went one step further and covered the foam core/bulletin board with linen fabric (using good ol' hot glue).

And now for the finished product:

After playing around with the layout several times, I finally decided on two frames hung horizontally and two hung vertically.

And those light fixtures on either side? They're actually outdoor lights from Lowe's. (I can't find them on the site anymore but the stores may still have them.) I think they were around $20 each. And I L-O-V-E them.

Another secret? They're not hooked up to anything. They don't work. (Since they're meant to be outdoor lights they have to be hard-wired; they don't have a convenient little cord that you plug into an outlet). If I had begged hard enough I probably could have gotten Lee to work some magic and make it happen. But when we considered that we'd have to run wiring through the wall and cut out holes behind the lights and install another light switch (that probably wouldn't make any sense to future owners), I decided I was perfectly ok with them just being pretty and not functional.

I haven't done much yet in the way of pinning things up, but so far I've got some mementos from our Australia trip on the left, some random pics on the bottom, our "places we've traveled" maps on the right and a pretty quote from Pinterest on the top.

The maps are something I've been wanting to do for a while. I'm using yellow pins for places I've been, blue pins for places Lee has been, and green pins for places we've been together (get it? yellow and blue make green? awwww). Now we just need to get some more pins up there! Methinks the northwest is looking very neglected...

And now for some more pretty pictures.

Completing the worktable area are my two stools. I originally wanted the real-deal Tolix barstools, but at $200 a pop it was not happening. Overstock saved the day with this lookalike set of two for under $100. I actually bought the stools as soon as I finished the table, and they were part of the reason I fell in love with the industrial light fixtures and knew they'd be perfect.

So what do you think? I have a few last details I still want to finish up and then I'll give you a final wrap-up of the room.

July 4th Escapades

McKinney was kind enough to give us both Friday AND Monday off.

Erin, Katie and I kicked off the long weekend with a trip to Greensboro to see our girl Tay Tay.

I like using Katie as my "excuse" for going to a Taylor Swift concert.

A nice dinner at Lonestar beforehand.

As always, she put on an amazing show.

If she was about to come down with bronchitis and cancel her next 4 shows (she was) you'd never know it.

We got up Friday and headed to the river, but not before a quick stop at Crabtree at Gap (shorts for me), Abercrombie (two shirts for Katie) and Cheesecake Factory (lunch for all). Then we jammed to new tunes for 3 hours all the way to Aurora.

The outside fridge was stocked (Miller Lite anyone?).

The golf cart was decked out in her patriotic best.

Lee's PVC birds were installed.

The crab pot was emptied as the sun set.

And a bit of pier fishing as well.

Saturday was spent crabbing, because it's not Fourth of July unless you've dangled a raw chicken leg tied to string in a swampy marsh.

You shall be dinner.

Spotted on the boat ride home.

It's also not Fourth of July without a ridiculous amount of food.

And flag cake.

I got Seth to smile for a picture!

This is cute.

And this too.

All this sunscreen (arranged in order of SPF) and I still managed to get burnt.

Sunday was our annual trip to the sandbar, also a Fourth of July tradition.

Dad doesn't obey signs.

And I don't either, so I can get pretty pictures like this.

Kate lounging at the sandbar.

Some tubing action.

And being a little brave.

Sugar overseeing.

More food? Who us??

It's not the 4th without our hamburgershotdogsandhomemeadeicecream meal. Lee and I have almost perfected our ice cream recipe.

And then it was time for the big show.

Every year, it's tradition that our Canady Landing neighbors drive over and put on a patriotic parade for Jarvis Landing. (We were at the sandbar when they came through this year and missed it.) But we got together and decided to return the favor on Monday before heading home. So I present to you the inaugural Jarvis Landing July 4th parade.

And this is sure to make it into next year's family calendar. (Sugar is such a poser.)

Other items of note:

• By the end of the weekend, Erin had us all sucked into the Casey Anthony trial.
• Katie, reading from a Loaded Questions card, "If you had an enormous yak, what would you name it?" (The word was yacht.)
• Badminton. Lots of it.
• One night, we watched New Moon and Eclipse, back-to-back on Showtime. That's a lot of shirtless Jacob for one night. #notcomplaining
• I made these again. They got devoured again.
• Miraculously, no one got stung by a jellyfish, sprained their ankle or fell off a ladder this year.

Hope you and yours had a happy 4th!